Ready ruled ineligible for Hardeeville City Council run by local election commission

Political newcomer Scott Ready has been disqualified in his bid for Hardeeville City Council.

A paperwork error not corrected in time led to Ready’s being declared ineligible to be on the May 8 ballot by the Hardeeville Municipal Election Commission during a special-called meeting Thursday.

The committee — appointed by City Council — unanimously ruled Ready ineligible because an error was not corrected before the March 8 filing deadline. Filing for two City Council seats and mayor opened Feb. 8 and closed March 8.

Ready, 48, said during the meeting that in choosing between filing as a “candidate” or filing as an “elected official” on the form, he interpreted that he was filing to become an elected official. He apologized for causing extra work for the commission.

The local election commission is comprised of Joyce Meeks, chair, and members May Montgomery and Lyndia Daniels.

“I am searching as to what options are available, in order to be able to best serve the citizens of Hardeeville, I have not made any choice yet,” he said. “I am looking at what all the options are. As soon as I make a decision, I will be glad to make that known. This type of process needs to be taken care of within our local governmental system,” Ready said when reached after Thursday’s meeting.

Cathy Hazelwood, deputy director and general counsel for the State Ethics Commission, said Thursday that when the Hardeeville candidates roster was received it was reviewed and the files were correct.

Procedures for participating in an election require all candidates to electronically file a Statement of Economic Interests with the State Ethics Commission.

Hazelwood said the roster was returned to the Hardeeville election commission with the candidates eligible to be placed on the May ballot.

Typically, when the ethics commission reviews the statements and finds errors, it notifies the local election commission and candidates, and lets them know that they have 10 days from the date of closing to make corrections or they will be required to pay a $100 late filing fee, Hazelwood said.

In reference to Ready’s being removed from the ballot, Hazelwood said: “If they’re going to do that then they need to make sure they do that for everybody. Most places are trying to figure out how to get people on the ballot not how to kick people off the ballot.”

Ready has options.

“He can appeal to the 14th Circuit Court and he can also run as a write-in candidate. It’s a whole timing issue,” Hazelwood said.

Candidates have 14 days from the original filing closing date in which to submit a declaration of intent to run as a write-in candidate, meaning he would have until noon March 22 to file. No fees are involved in filing as a write-in candidate. There is a write-in space on the ballot whether it is a paper ballot or electronic ballot, and voters would have to write in the name.

If a write-in declaration is submitted, there will have to be an election. If not, then there will only be an election for mayor.

“My reaction is disappointment that a realization of what took place was unable to be accepted; that while all the paperwork was filed within the proper time frames and that a change to the error that was made was corrected within the allowable time frame of the State Ethics Commission, that the city commission still deemed it to not be in a timely manner,” Ready said when reached after the meeting.

If the decision by the local election commission proves binding, incumbents Roy Powell, 46, and Mike Sweeney, 76, are the two candidates for two council seats.

All of the local election commission’s documentation is handled by their appointed agent, City Clerk Lori Pomarico, who emailed the candidates’ roster to the ethics commission March 9, a day after filing. Pomarico technically had five days from the date of closing to deliver the candidate roster to the ethics commission — which would have been Thursday, the same day as the special meeting that led to Ready’s disqualification.

Montgomery said Pomarico was notified of Ready’s error when the commission gathered to officially witness the closing at 1 p.m. March 8. She then notified Ready. The correction was made at 2:47 p.m. March 8, less than two hours after being notified of the error. The filing deadline was noon on March 8.

Ready was not the only candidate who needed to file an amendment after his initial Feb. 24 filing. Incumbent Roy Powell filed Feb. 21 and made an amendment the next day. Both candidates for mayor, Councilman Sal Arzillo and Mayor Bronco Bostick, also filed amendments. Ready was the only one notified after the deadline that his application contained an error.

Chris Whitmire, spokesman for the State Election Commission, said he had not seen anyone be removed from a candidates list because they “made essentially a clerical error. I have not seen it but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t occurred anywhere else,” he said.

Comments are welcome, so long as they are civil. A Facebook account is required. Abuse may result in the commenter being permanently blocked. Personal attacks are strictly prohibited. We reserve the right to remove any comments at any time.